MUSC names Kate Azizi vice president for institutional advancement

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Dec. 13, 2019) – David J. Cole, M.D., FACS, president of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has announced the appointment of Kate Azizi as vice president for Institutional Advancement. She will lead MUSC advancement initiatives for the university and health system in all markets -- local, regional, statewide and beyond. Scheduled to begin her new role on Feb. 10, Azizi will lead the MUSC team of philanthropy professionals. In collaboration with the president and key academic, clinical and administrative leaders, she will work to define and articulate a bold vision that builds upon existing momentum and excitement about MUSC, its accomplishments and its contributions in education, research and patient care. Azizi will report directly to President Cole and serve as a member of the president’s advisory council.

“Kate brings deep experience and a commitment to institutional advancement that will serve our organization well,” Cole said. “Her many career achievements are built on building meaningful relationships and connecting institutional needs with the philanthropic goals of members of the community. We look forward to engaging with her as she develops and implements a well-structured strategic plan to ensure the long-term, continued philanthropic success of MUSC,” he added.

“Finding new ways to engage with our active community supporters is a vital component of our organization’s success,” said Patrick J. Cawley, M.D., CEO of MUSC Health and vice president for Health Affairs, University. “We look forward to working with Kate as we significantly increase our philanthropy efforts in partnership with alumni, volunteers and donors of all types -- prospective, existing, individual and institutional.”

Azizi joins MUSC from her position as assistant dean for development at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, a position she has held since 2017. During her tenure at Northwestern, her successes included tripling the total of major gift commitments for the neurosciences fundraising team and for its programs; cultivating multiple new top-level donors to the Campaign for Northwestern Medicine and the Institute for Translational Neurosciences; expanding partnerships with physicians and colleagues within Northwestern University and the Northwestern Memorial Foundation; and leading improvements in the organization’s grateful patient direct appeals program.

Previously, Azizi held positions of increasing levels of responsibility at the University of Chicago, including more than three years as campaign director for individual giving and another three years plus as campaign director/senior director for principal gifts. Her extensive experience in exceeding established fundraising goals, securing seven-figure donor investments and serving as a partner with leaders across the organization served consistently to advance fundraising priorities.

Her academic experience also includes some five years in two positions with North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where she served as director of development and external relations at the Poole College of Management and as director of corporate and foundation relations for the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Before moving into academia, Azizi worked for nine years in the New York City area, holding a variety of positions in development, finance and operations at the Prospect Park Alliance in Brooklyn, Publicolor in New York City, UBS Financial Services in New Jersey, Prudential Financial in New York City and Prudential in New Jersey.  

Azizi has taken courses and earned a certificate in leadership and executive education from Northwestern University and the Harvard Program on Negotiation, respectively. She received an MBA in marketing from NC State University and a B.A. from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.

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About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the oldest medical school in the South, as well as the state’s only integrated, academic health sciences center with a unique charge to serve the state through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and 700 residents in six colleges: Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. The state’s leader in obtaining biomedical research funds, in fiscal year 2018, MUSC set a new high, bringing in more than $276.5 million. For information on academic programs, visit musc.edu.

As the clinical health system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest quality patient care available, while training generations of competent, compassionate health care providers to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Comprising some 1,600 beds, more than 100 outreach sites, the MUSC College of Medicine, the physicians’ practice plan, and nearly 275 telehealth locations, MUSC Health owns and operates eight hospitals situated in Charleston, Chester, Florence, Lancaster and Marion counties. In 2019, for the fifth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visit muschealth.org.

MUSC and its affiliates have collective annual budgets of $3 billion. The more than 17,000 MUSC team members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers and scientists who deliver groundbreaking education, research, technology and patient care.